Routing: Longer roads
are identified by the major cities and towns is passes or
passed though (10,000+ pop). Major junctions or bends in
the route are noted. Shorter routes are identified by
city or cities located in, or smaller communities passed
through with the shortest routes identified by street
names. Exact termini are listed. Also listed are the
routes that replaced the decommissioned routes.

Counties the route
passes or passed through in Florida. Florida's county
structure has remained stable since the beginning of the
20th century.

"Hidden"
State Route Numbers. Every state highway in Florida has a
distinct state road number, different from its federal
number. Florida's Highway grid is similar to the US
system, with low numbered two or one digit odd roads on
the east coast. High numbered two or one digit odd routes
are on the Alabama border. Even numbers are similar, with
FL 2 along the Georgia border becoming GA 94 in the Peach
State. Three digit route numbers are more complex. In
general, odd numbers run north and south, even, east and
west. The lowest three digit numbers (101, 102) should be
found northwest of Pensacola, the lowest numbers (998,
999) should be in the southeast, around Miami.

Other federal and major
state numbered roads the route is and / or was
multiplexed with.

The Drive: Reported
field conditions of the US highway with a date. If
someone else drove the route, his or her name and E-mail
will be posted with the report, I try to give credit
where it is due.

History: How the road
came to be.

Auto Trails: Pre-US
highway numbering names

Florida started using
colored US highways signs in 1956, and the language of the MUTCD
of that time allowed it. By the 1980's, the verbage in the MUTCD
had changed, prohibiting the use of colors other than black and
white on the standard US highway shield. Florida's colored US
highway signs were now considered non-standard, after three
decades in use. FHWA refused to allow Federal gas tax funds to be
spent on replacement and new colored US shields. The colored US
shields were no more expensive than a standard US marker. Yellow
(like US 17) and Orange (US 41) markers did require more frequent
replacement. FDOT maintenance forces placed colored shields up at
state expense. Florida officially ceased producing colored US
route markers on August 27, 1993. No new colored US shields were
made after that time. Old stocks were used until they were
exhausted. The last of the old colored shields were posted in
1996. Each day that passes, there are fewer of the old colored
signs left. They are being replaced with standard MUTCD black and
white signs. Occasionally a county or private entity will post a
sign in the old color scheme, but that is a rare event. This web
site is meant to be a photographic record of this unique
experiment as well as informative about the US highway system in
Florida. Most of the existing signs were recycled for the scrap
aluminum content when they reached the end of their service
life. The contracts for sign replacements were given to private
companies, so don't bother the local maintenance yard if you want
one.

"Momma don't take my
Kodachrome away" - P. Simon

Apocryphal
Florida-style color US routes - There were
other US highways in Florida not long before the conversion to
using color on the US shields, US 94 and US 541. If they had
survived, I'm guessing they would have been colored, too. . This
is my guess about the formula for deciding the basics of color -
US 90 and US 92 are east-west mainline US routes that do not
intersect, blue
is a good color. US 94 fits that template. Putting a color on US
541 is a little harder. Yellow would be out, US 301 would have
nearly connected to US 541. Red seems to be for mainline
north-south routes. Orange US 41 intersects the route. Black was
used on east-west route US 98, so let's save black for later.
That leaves brown and green. Of the two, US 27 is closer to Tampa
than US 441, so brown
wins. Green, hmm, I have a problem with green. The only error in
the system is where US 27 and US 192 intersect. US 192 is an
east-west route, all the other green routes are north-south. If
the routes were still colored today, they could change the color
of US 192 to black.
This change works unless US 192 somehow is extended west to US 98
near Dade City... which is highly unlikely. That leaves one last
former US highway to consider, US 331. If it had somehow
survived, they would have left it green, asssuming a co-signage
with US 29, like US 1 and US 23. Any route assigned to that
corridor, say, a hypothetcial US 531, would have likely gone
brown, considering two other close yellow routes, US 319 and US
231.